'Anchorman 2' Temporarily Killed 'Step Brothers 2;' Will Also Have Musical Numbers And A "Murderers' Row Of Day Players"

Anchorman fans know two things for certain. Ron Burgundy is coming back and he and his news team have lovely voices. Who could forget Ron, Brian, Champ and Brick's rousing rendition of Afternoon Delight in the 2004 hit? Well, according to co-writer and director Adam McKay, there will be more of that in the sequel.

In a new interview, McKay confirmed that they've already written full musical numbers for Anchorman 2, which starts shooting in the Spring, and that they're bringing in "a murderers' row of day players" to rival the cameos in the first film.

He also discussed Step Brothers, which was rumored to have a sequel of its own, as well as related a rap album. McKay said the sequel was in the works and is still possible, but was put on hold due to Anchorman 2. The rap album, however, fell apart. Read details on all of this after the jump.

McKay spoke to The Playlist about both Anchorman 2 and Step Brothers, so this all comes from there.

Apparently, when Anchorman 2 was going through its long development hell, they plan was briefly to do it as a Broadway musical first, so some of the creative energies went in that direction. "There will be some music in Anchorman 2 though for sure, we have some songs already written," McKay told The Playlist. And in the tradition of the first film, Step Brothers and a deleted scene in Talladega Nights, they will be sung and recorded on set.

McKay then expanded a bit on what we've already know about the focus of the film:

Even thought it's going to be a big silly movie, it's all about the rise of the new media and 24 hour news cycle, and there's a lot of interesting points to make about that while being silly....I mean what is this 24 hours news, and this wall of white noise information, has it really been good for our country? The great thing when you find a point of view like that is that it doesn't have to be preachy or didactic, it's also funny. It's just funny that Americans have to contend with 2000 channels, and 60 different specific news sources, and the confusion that it creates, and the junk that we get to see is hilarious. That's what we're always kinda looking for, what's the point of view that's got life to it and plays.

One of the highlights of the first film was the news team brawl that featured cameos from Tim Robbins, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson and more. McKay said not only will there be more of that, almost every single small role will be someone really good:

We're talking about for Anchorman 2 creating a murderer's row of the best day players ever. Like having every single one line or three line role, just be someone we just love. Someone like Ian Roberts or Rob Huebel or Paula Killen – just making sure every day player is a home run.

The site also asked him about Step Brothers 2, another sequel that's been batted about as the film continues to gain a cult following. According to McKay it was about to happen, but then Paramount approved the more talked about Anchorman 2:

We were literally going to go do Step Brothers 2. Paramount wouldn't make Anchorman 2, we had tried a couple of times, I talked with [Will] Ferrell, he wanted to do Step Brothers 2. We love that movie Step Brothers, it's one of the funnest ones we've ever done, and one of the craziest we've ever done. And we're like, 'Yeah, let's go do it,.' But everyone kept saying to us Anchorman 2, Anchorman 2 and I'm like, 'Look, before we go do [Step Brothers 2] let's just make sure we try everything.' Literally our managers and agents were like, 'It's a waste of time, they're not going to do it.' I'm like, 'Just check one more time so I know it's 100% .' And it so happened they had a movie fall out, and they went back and they were like, 'Yes, we'll do it.' And we were completely blindsided. We had no idea they were going to say that. But it was a good problem to have.

Around that time, McKay, Ferrell and co-star John C. Reilly were talking about a Step Brothers rap album but it ended up not working out:

We actually met with the music producer Lukash [Gottwald], and we actually wrote four or five raps, roughs of them, and were going to release the Step Brothers rap album. And I can't remember what happened, but right in the middle of it we suddenly got super busy and everyone had to walk away and it's never been revived. We actually were halfway through writing it and Lukash was giving us beats, and we were going to do it.

However, McKay seemed to think that might be the way to eventually get back into Step Brothers 2:

I think that's probably the answer, the way to keep it alive, to do that rap album. So maybe that merits a phone call, you just reminded me of it. Maybe we should revive it that idea.

Are you glad we're getting Anchorman 2 over Step Brothers 2? Do you wish they completed the rap album?

Thanks again to The Playlist for all the info.